Wednesday, May 27, 2015

27 May 2015(BBC News Europe) The conflict in
Ukraine is entering its second year and a ceasefire, nominally in place since
February, has failed to stop the violence in areas around Donetsk airport. Among
the hardest hit is the village of Pisky. It had a population of 3,000 before
the war started, but now only a handful of civilians remain. Fergal Keane has
been granted exclusive access to the village, which has been sealed off by the
Ukrainian army.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

May 26, 2015 The pictures of the convoy were
taken by a Reuters stringer near the Russian southern town of Matveev Kurgan,
near the Russian-Ukrainian border in Rostov region in Russia, the TSN TV news
program reported. The military vehicles, including Uragan multiple rocket
launchers, military trucks without license plates and few armored personnel
carriers, crossed the southern Russian town of Matveev Kurgan and turned to the
fields from the road near the border with Ukraine, according to a Reuters
journalist.

Monday, May 25, 2015

May 25, 2015 (BBC News Europe) Mr
Mozgovoi led the "Prizrak" (Ghost) battalion which was based in the
Alchevsk area of Luhansk. Reports said a bomb struck his car, which was then
targeted by gunfire that killed Mozgovoi and six others. Mr Mozgovoi was a
critic of the Russian-backed separatist leadership and the Minsk accord signed
with Kiev. He took control of Alchevsk as part of the uprising that began last
April in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions following Russia's
annexation of Crimea. There are no details on who may have carried out the
attack, which was said to have taken place on the road from Luhansk to the city
of Alchevsk.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

19 May 2015 (BBC News Europe) Ukraine's
president has told the BBC his country is now in a "real war" with
Russia - and that Ukrainians should prepare for a Russian offensive. President
Petro Poroshenko told the BBC's Fergal Keane he did not trust his Russian
counterpart, Vladimir Putin but said he had no option but to negotiate with the
Russian president.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015Kurgan
stelae are
anthropomorphic stone stelae, images cut from stone, installed atop, within or
around an ancient burial mounds. The stelae are also described as "obelisks"
or "statue menhirs". Spanning more than three millennia, they are
clearly the product of various cultures. The earliest are associated with the Pit
Grave culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe (and therefore with the Proto-Indo-Europeans
according to the mainstream Kurgan hypothesis). There are Iron Age specimens
are identified with the Scythians and medieval examples with Turkic peoples. Such
stelae are found in large numbers in Southern Russia, Ukraine, Prussia,
southern Siberia, Central Asia and Mongolia.

Anthropomorphic stelae were probably
memorials to the honoured dead. They are found in the context of burials and
funeral sanctuaries from the Eneolithic through to the Middle Ages. It was
proved by historians that Kalmyks revered kurgan obelisks in their country as
images of their ancestors, and that when a bowl was held by the statue, it was
to deposit a part of the ashes after the cremation of the deceased, and another
part was laid under the base of the statue. When used architecturally, stelae
could act as a system of stone fences, frequently surrounded by a moat, with sacrificial
hearths, sometimes tiled on the inside.

There are few such stelae in the
back yard of Poltava regional museum. They attract many tourists who would like
to touch a statue created by our ancestors thousand years ago.

Monday, May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015 Ukraine's
military says its forces have captured Russian captain Evgeniy Erofeev and
sergeant Alexander Alexandrov who were fighting with rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Both were seized in the town of Shchastya, near the line of separation. A video
emerged apparently showing Alexander Alexandrov saying during questioning that
he was a sergeant from the 3rd Special Mission Brigade which home
base is located in the central Russian city of Togliatti.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

May 15, 2015 (UNIAN News agency) The vote was
269 to 151 for the legislation, a blueprint for next year's spending on
military and other national security programs, the Associated Press reported. The
bill calls, among other things, for arming Ukrainian forces fighting
Russian-backed separatists, a move the Obama administration has so far
resisted. Overall, the House bill authorizes $515 billion for national defense
and another $89.2 billion for the emergency war-fighting fund for a total of
$604.2 billion. Another $7.7 billion is mandatory defense spending that doesn't
get authorized by Congress. The Senate version follows the same approach as the
House to funding the military. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 22-4
on Thursday to authorize $523 billion in base funding for the Defense
Department and other national security programs and an additional $90.2 billion
for the emergency war-fighting fund.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

May 12, 2015(Ukrainian Canadian Congress) Colleagues of murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov published a report, Putin. War. , based on research Nemtsov began about Russia's involvement in the Ukraine conflict, the Guardian reported. The 65-page report also details Russia's invasion and illegal occupation of Crimea, and estimates on the economic costs of the war. According to the report, at least 200 Russian military personnel have been killed fighting in eastern Ukraine - at least 150 Russian military personnel were killed in August 2014, and at least 70 at Debaltseve in February 2015.

One of the contributors to the report, Ilya Yashin, Nemtsov's friend and fellow activist, stated at a press conference presenting the report that the actual total number of Russian military casualties was much higher.

Friday, May 8, 2015

May 7, 2015. A photo exhibition dedicated to Poltava in the time of German occupation has
been opened on May 7th in the cultural center under the city
cathedral.The exhibition is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the World War II. Nowadays
in connection with the Russian backed aggression against Ukraine our country
decidedtocommemorate Victory Day on 8 May
instead of 9 May 1945. Besides, the military parade in Kiev for Victory Day on
May 9 was cancelled. May 8, however, will be celebrated as a day of remembrance
and reconciliation.

On the exhibition two collections of
photographs were shown to visitors. One collection was discovered in Stuttgart
(Germany) in the family archives of former railway engineer who was sent to
Poltava in 1942. Another collection was discovered in the Visual
Archive of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
(Berlin). About 60 unique photographs were purchased and delivered to Poltava
under financial support of Swedish Society of Military History (Svenskt Militärhistoriskt
Bibliotek). Many German and Soviet Military orders and medals, Soviet wartime newspapers were also represented
on the exhibition. May I take this opportunity to thank all SMB stuff members and personally
Per-Anders Lundström and Jan Waernberg for their help and support.

You may watch a brief video about
this exhibition and my brief interview (sorry for speaking Ukrainian) at

Monday, May 4, 2015

May 4, 2015 Unfortunately the monument to fallen soldiers
of Charles XII erected by their compatriots close to Poltava battle field in
1909 had been indiscriminately plundered by ferrous metal hunters, with
consequent severe damage to the cultural image of Poltava. For the first time it was maimed in 2013 and this year it happened again.

Yesterday while
visiting the village of Pobyvanka located close to the Swedish monument I took
a few pictures showing to the readers of my blogg how this long-suffering memorial
stone looks now. It is obvious that this monument which age exceeds 100
years has to be properly watched, otherwise it will disappear some day.

Only after that there is a sense to start its
repair. Moreover, here in Poltava many hold that there is no sense to replace a
stolen iron chains with a new ones under the current economic situation that caused the
disastrous decline in living standards. Probably it is worthy to think about
replacing an iron chains with made of hard plastic ones. Poltava battle museum employees
have succeeded in repairing of two pillars broken by vandals but of cause itcould hardly be regarded asthe problem solution.

Those
who are interested in the history of this unique monument created in Sweden and
delivered to Poltava in 1909 due to financial support of Emanuel Nobel are
welcome to visit my site:

May 4, 2015 (UNIAN News Agency) Polish
President Bronislaw Komorowski announced this in his speech on the occasion of
Constitution Day in Poland on May 3, Radio Poland has reported. He said that
the situation behind the eastern border of Poland was tense and noted the Poles
have "a special occasion to closely monitor whether any new threat isn't
looming."

"We are facing a challenge of
how to maintain and strengthen freedom. From the period of Poland's history
which goes back to the Constitution of May 3, 1791, we've learnt a lesson that
freedom is not given once and for all," Komorowski said.

"Soon, on May 9, Red Square in
Moscow will turn into an armored square. There will be those units that have
recently attacked neighboring Ukraine in front of us and the whole world,
demonstrating their force. It has been a long time since a military conflict
was as close to the Polish borders as now," he added.

"One should bear in mind that
in this military demonstration, demonstration of force, we are talking not
about history, but about the present and future. It is the image of today's
unstable and restless world," he added.

Friday, May 1, 2015

May 1, 2015 (Ministry of
Defense of Ukraine) U.S.-Ukrainian exercise “Fearless Guardian 2015” undergoes
at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre of the Land Forces
Academy. Ukrainian soldiers enhance their skills in firearms, physical,
medical, special training, etc. to perform tasks during armed conflicts. U.S.
experts teach them to be efficient leaders, as well. Over 30 Ukrainian officers
and sergeants play the role of observers. Their primary task is to accumulate,
analyze and generalize the gained experience for further implementation in the
training process of the Ukrainian military. According to U.S. instructors,
infrastructure and capabilities of the training centre are favorable for good
organization and effectiveness of trainings.